UAE - Mubasher: Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bpifrance Assurance Export, a French export credit agency, to boost trade and economic cooperation between the UAE and France.

The MoU aims to give the exporting community in both countries access to various export credit, financing, and investment insurance services to explore new business opportunities and form new partnerships in the UAE, according to a press release on Monday.

Meanwhile, both institutions will cooperate in identifying mutual opportunities for insurance, reinsurance, co-insurance services to export good to a third country, supporting insured exporters and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and exchanging expertise.

The agreement will strengthen the economic cooperation between the two countries, as the UAE is France's second-largest trade partner in the region in addition to the 600 French companies present in the UAE.

Commenting on the MoU, the CEO of ECI, Massimo Falcioni, said: "As UAE’s Federal export credit company, it is our mandate to support local companies grow internationally by providing risk management solutions and creating an ecosystem of strategic partners."

Meanwhile, the General Manager of Bpifrance Assurance Export, Francois Lefebvre, stated: "We believe this agreement, while actively boosting the bilateral trade relations, will also enhance support for the exporting community as it will give small businesses access to ECI’s unique range of trade credit solutions and services."